Whoever is "strong-handed and strong-legged" climbs the tree, chooses branches with many ripe black fruits and drops them.
The custard apple tree is heavy with fruit.
When I was a child, fruits were rare. Back then, in my hometown, well-off families with gardens planted bananas, mangoes, jackfruit, star apples, guavas, plums, custard apples… a little of each, mainly for their children and grandchildren to eat.
They only sell them when there is a surplus. The fruits that are sold in the market today such as durian, longan, orange, tangerine, grapefruit, rambutan, mangosteen, grapes... are very rare. Children from poor families who do not have land to grow fruit trees (including my brothers and I) go to the riverbank or invite each other to "go to the forest" to pick wild fruits.
My hometown has both rivers and mounds. In the past, there were many trees on both sides of the village roads and a few small clusters of shoot forests left.
These were quite attractive places that we, the poor children, often visited. In the rivers and canals, there were betel, myrtle, ca na, myrtle guava, mua… On the hills, there were notable varieties such as longan, longan, cold rice, duoi, mam…
The fruit is the eldest in size, delicious (delicious according to our poor children at that time), and filling in its wild relatives, the custard apple.
In my hometown, there are many wild custard apple trees. Around the fifth and sixth lunar months, the custard apples ripen, and the fruits are large, sometimes as big as a calf. The unripe fruit has a dark green skin, and when ripe, the skin is yellow, quite eye-catching.
Ripe fruit, the flesh of the custard apple is pale yellow, has many seeds, and is sweet and sour. Back then, when cutting grass, fishing, or hunting field mice... while tired and hungry, "picking up" a ripe custard apple would make children (and adults)'s eyes light up. Because eating it would relieve hunger and fatigue immediately.
On hot summer afternoons, some families "play it cool" by taking ripe calabash, removing the pulp, peeling it, putting it in a basin, buying crushed ice cubes to put in, adding a little sugar... the whole family gathers around to enjoy it.
During the season of ripe custard apples, before the sun rises, my brothers and I, as well as many neighborhood children, gather to pick "boxy" custard apples (slightly yellow skin, not fully ripe) to bring home (usually for one day and one night).
Those who had a sampan rowed along the banks of the canals, while those who did not had a sampan wandered along the banks of the canals looking for custard apples. Although there were not as many as before, today the rivers and canals of my hometown still had custard apple trees. When the custard apples ripen, no one went looking for them anymore.
Forest fruit.
The second fruit we came across in the river area was the ca na tree. At that time, there were many tall ca na trees on the banks of the canals. There were two types of ca na, one that bore sour fruit and one that bore bitter fruit. Sour ca na fruit had a sour taste from the time it first formed until it was ripe.
Bitter star fruit has a bitter taste from the time it is first “formed” until it is old. When the fruit is ripe, the star fruit is less bitter and more fragrant. Star fruit grows wild, anyone can pick as much as they want.
The landowners and farmers who grew the starfruit trees did not complain. On midsummer afternoons, my brothers and I and the neighborhood kids would gather to pickle a bowl of salt and chili, and walk along the canal banks to find sour starfruit trees with ripe fruit to pick. We also picked bitter starfruit to pickle and eat.
Through the process of exploitation, today on the banks of the canals of my hometown, the ca na tree has become scarce. Whatever is rare is precious. In recent years, not only have people preserved it, but some have also planted new ca na trees.
Along with the star fruit and the bottle gourd, there are also many large star fruit trees on the banks of the canals. During the rainy season, the star fruit turns black on the trees, and my brothers and I and many other children often invite each other to pick them. Those who are “strong-handed and strong-legged” climb the trees, choose branches with many ripe black fruits, and drop them.
The children on the ground gathered them up, then gathered around to eat together. After eating, they took turns sticking out their tongues. Whoever had the blackest tongue ate the most.
We also often rowed our boats to the guava bushes. Not only did we pick young leaves to eat, but we also looked for ripe guava fruits. The guava fruit was as big as an adult's big toe. The ripe fruit had soft skin, was spongy, and sweet. We also did not miss the guava fruit.
Along the banks of the canals and fields in my hometown, there are many purple mua trees. Ripe mua fruit has black flesh and tastes sweet and sour. When walking in the fields and seeing a mua tree with ripe fruit, we kids are ready to rest our feet, let our hands work and our mouths enjoy the ripe mua fruit.
When we weren’t looking for fruits from the river, we went looking for fruits on the hills. At that time, the village roads, hamlets, and villages in my hometown hadn’t been widened yet. There were still many forest trees on both sides of the road. In addition, there were also a few small clusters of shoots.
This was a place for us poor kids to take a walk and enjoy wild fruits. The biggest fruit on the hillside was the mangrove fruit.
The mangrove tree is tall and has thorns, so it cannot be climbed. The small mangrove fruit is green, when ripe it is dark red, as big as a thumb. The fruit has many black seeds, like basil seeds soaked in water. When we were young, we often used a stick to poke the ripe mangrove fruit to eat. The mangrove fruit is sour, sweet, and sticky, not tasty.
Today, on the way home, there are still mangrove trees, with many ripe mangrove fruits falling down, probably no child would want to eat them anymore. Next to the mangrove trees, covered with thorns, are tall elm trees with rough trunks and many small branches. The elm fruits are small, ripe, yellow, juicy, and tasteless.
On the elm trees, many wild starfruit vines hang. The starfruits form clusters just like grapes.
When young, the fruit is light green, when ripe it is pinkish red and when ripe it is dark brown. The pulp is purple. Unripe fruit is itchy to the throat. Ripe fruit is juicy and tastes sour and sweet.
Longan
The longan tree is small and short, children can pick it standing on the ground, or pick it by hooking down. The longan fruit is round, as small as the tip of the little finger, and when ripe it is straw yellow. The fruit is small but the seed is big, the flesh of the longan fruit is thin white and juicy.
As soon as you press the skin, the juice inside squirts out. Longan is sweeter than duoi or mam, and it is easy to pick, so we like it very much. The bush is a longan tree.
Longan fruit grows in bunches, spreading out like a bunch of bananas. Each bunch has five or seven fruits. When ripe, longan fruit is bright red. The fruit has segments like fingers. Each segment is a seed. Ripe longan fruit is sweet and delicious… It can be called a bush, but the vine can be called a cloud.
The rattan fruit is round, grows in long clusters, and is white when ripe. It has large, hard seeds inside, and is sweet and astringent. There are many other types of edible and delicious wild fruits such as cow's udder, cold rice, and stork's claw... that we, poor children, got to enjoy when we were young.
Although not as numerous as before, the above mentioned riverine or mound fruit trees still exist.
During the summer months, especially in the summer when the Covid-19 epidemic is complicated, parents can take their children on "small" trips to "somewhat deserted" places, close to nature. From there, children will learn about a few more types of fruits in nature.
![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs Government Conference with localities on economic growth](https://vstatic.vietnam.vn/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/2/21/f34583484f2643a2a2b72168a0d64baa)
Comment (0)